Sarah B.'s blog

Adult, high school and middle school readers are encouraged to participate in our annual Winter Reading Program. It's easy to enter - read a book, submit an entry. Every week, winning names will be drawn to receive prizes. At the end of the Winter Reading Program, we'll choose three lucky names from all the entries submitted to receive the grand prizes - new e-readers! The more books you read, the more chances you'll have to win.
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The Winter Sea by Susanne Kearsley.

Last night, the 2012 One Book, One Bloomington Community Read title was announced on WFHB's Interchange radio program.

This year, the community voted for Room by Emma Donoghue

Jack is a typical five-year-old who enjoys watching TV, reading, and playing games with his Ma. But he has lived all of his life in a single room. The room is his world, shared with his Ma, and occasionally with Old Nick, a mysterious and unnerving nighttime visitor. Told from the perspective of Jack, the novel explores not only survival in captivity but also what happens when captivity ends and the world expands beyond the four walls of Room.
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Year of Wonders is a book about the plague, but it is also so much more than that. Anna lives in a small village in England in 1666. She has two small children and a hard working husband. Despite her struggles with her relationship with her father, and a new minister, things are generally going well for Anna. Unfortunately the true history of the village, as discovered by Brooks, creates a tragic backdrop for Anna's fictional life. First, Anna's husband dies in a mining accident, and to help ends meet, Anna takes in a boarder from London. Shortly after this, her boarder suddenly dies, and people in her village begin falling fatally sick. The death of Anna's husband is only the beginning of the upheaval that Anna is to survive. Near the end of the book, everything that she has known was turned up on its head.

Geraldine Brooks came upon a sign at the location of the village and did quite a bit of research to create fictional characters and events. Though all the action takes place in the small quarantined village, the language is lush and the characters vivid.
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Mindy Kaling, new author of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me, and Bill Clinton, recent author of Back To Work offer their very different, but intriguing holiday and year end book lists. I've included their top 5 lists below with links to the catalog, but click on over to the video which is interesting at least for the brief discussion on the importance of books and reading. Happy Holiday reading!  

Mindy's top list:
1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
2. Bossypants by Tina Fey
3. Lady Gaga X Terry Richardson by Lady Gaga and Terry Richardson Read more »

People often read travel books of places of either exotic places they want to visit, or of a beloved travel destination. I would think that a travel book of a destination that most people don't ever want to visit wouldn't exactly be very engaging. Guy Delisle proves me wrong.

Delisle is a French Canadian whose work in animation has taken him to some interesting and not so interesting places. Two of these locations have become novel length graphic novels. Delisle has a knack for taking the ridiculous and mundane and making them funny and smart.
Pyongyang chronicles Delisle's stay in North Korea that extends over several months for his job. The charcoal drawings reflect the drab and sterile city. Delisle tries to get to know the residents, but is often thwarted by his guide, translator and driver, with whom Delisle isn't to be without. He is taken to some creepy (and sometimes funny) monuments to the Eternal President. The insights and details are surprising and delightful. Even if you aren't the least curious about North Korea, I would still recommend this title.
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As the weather turns cold and blustery and sunset comes earlier and earlier there's nothing better than to curl up with a good book.

Next Sunday, we'll have our annual holiday tea. Amal will bring her delicious cake and the Friends of the Library will provide lovely desserts and fruit as well as hot drinks. But the best ingredient is YOU!

Please come and share the titles of books that you have enjoyed this year and with your ideas for new Books Plus programs in 2012. We will also have lists of recommended books for 2011.
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In a world of massive amounts of information, I am a sucker for top ten or best-of lists. I appreciate when someone else condenses something into a short and sweet list, something easy to scan and hopefully points you in the right direction.
November brings the earliest end-of-the-year best-of lists and both Amazon and Publisher's Weekly are some of the first to announce their top ten books of the year. Maybe not too shockingly, Amazon's list is pretty predictable with a lot of best sellers, or other books that got a lot of buzz, including debut-darling Téa Obreht, Erik Larson, and the new Steve Jobs bio.

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As the leaves turn bright orange and the cold weather returns, it feels great to curl up with a good book. Why not transport yourself back to Italy during World War II with James McBride's Miracle at St. Anna? Join us for a book discussion this coming Sunday. Also, the MCPL Friends of the Library will be hosting "An Evening with James McBride" on November 12th. If you can come to both events, that would be great. If not, we hope to see you at our Books Plus talk.

McBride, who also wrote the best-selling memoir The Color of Water about growing up in a mixed-race family, is also a jazz musician. Miracle of St. Anna tells the story of a soldier in the 92nd all-black Buffalo Division during World War II. Four of these GIs take care of a traumatized Italian boy. The book examines issues of race, war, and evil as well as the nature of love and caring.

For more details of this and future programs, please see below.
Books Plus meets the first Sunday of each month. All are welcome. Join the discussion or simply come to listen.
2 p.m., First Sundays

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Lauren Myracle writes about being un-nominated for the National Book in the Huffington Post. Put in a really tough position, Myracle comes across as funny, tender and sympathetic. And apparently I wasn't the only one who added Shine to my Goodreads list.

Earlier this week, local law enforcement in Ohio was forced to shoot 49 large animals after their owner opened gates and cages prior to killing himself. As a follow up, NPR interviews local author Michael Koryta, the author of The Ridge which includes a significant plot line involving a large cat sanctuary in Kentucky. The interview covers challenges of regulating exotic animal ownership.